I always thought that anyone could make a prayer rope, but of course I could be wrong. The knots, though, are supposedly very complicated and hard to do. There is a video on how to do it, but I have never actually watched the video or tried to make a prayer rope. Still, it may be interesting:

I do not think there is anything to prevent one from properly making a prayer rope. I would stress that its manufacture and use should be under some spiritual guidance (IMHO). Personally I would prefer to obtain one from a monastery and give support to monks and nuns.

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"Religion is a neurobiological illness and Orthodoxy is its cure." - Fr. John S. Romanides

[quote author=ÃƒÆ’Ã…Â½ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“ÃƒÆ’Ã‚ÂÃƒâ€šÃ‚ÂÃƒÆ’Ã…Â½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¹ÃƒÆ’Ã‚ÂÃƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÆ’Ã‚ÂÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¾ÃƒÆ’Ã…Â½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¿ÃƒÆ’Ã…Â½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ÂºÃƒÆ’Ã…Â½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â»ÃƒÆ’Ã…Â½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â®ÃƒÆ’Ã‚ÂÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ link=topic=9474.msg127349#msg127349 date=1152449558]I do not think there is anything to prevent one from properly making a prayer rope. I would stress that its manufacture and use should be under some spiritual guidance (IMHO). Personally I would prefer to obtain one from a monastery and give support to monks and nuns.[/quote]

I did not know that monks and nuns sold them.I saw some in shops that also sold icons.The link below also sells them.I do not want to take $ away from the religious though. That would be counterproductive to the whole point.Thanks.

The making of a prayer rope isÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š a spiritual exercise and devotion, as is the writing of Icons.ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š It is not specifically limited to monastics but is seen as an approved activity of monastics.

The knot of theÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š paryer rope is tied in a special manner in which 7 crosses are made in producing the knot. On each cross is said the prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me a sinner" thus each KnotÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š has seven prayers on it. If theÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š prayer rope is being made for a certain person, often the name of the person is subsitituted forÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š the word "me" making the prayer rope even more personal. While the most common producer of these prayer ropes available to the world at large are Orthodox Monasteries, I have known elderly people and disabled people who sit in their beds making paryer ropes for family, friends, and newly converted as a part of their own spiritual life.

To recieve the gift of a prayer rope is to recieve a bouquet of prayers from one who loves the Lord.